Kanye West’s infamous tweets — spewed out while creating The Life of Pablo — have now come in handy for the rap superstar. Yeezy is using them to fight a class action lawsuit filed over the project’s exclusive TIDAL rollout.
The lawsuit was filed in April 2016 by a fan named Justin Baker-Rhett, who claimed West conned music listeners into subscribing to TIDAL because it would be the only place fans could hear the album. The case also pointed out a since-deleted tweet from West saying TLOP would never be on Apple Music, which the plaintiff says was done to save TIDAL. Eventually, the LP was not only available for streaming and download on Apple but also Spotify and West’s own website.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Kanye wants the case dismissed and is using a tweet from March 2016 saying TLOP is a “living breathing changing creative expression” to prove his point.
TIDAL’s subscription numbers increased by over three million due to the release of TLOP. It was streamed over 250 million times the first 10 days of its release in February 2016. A few songs also went through changes in the subsequent weeks and months, including Chance the Rapper’s part on “Ultralight Beam” and Frank Ocean’s addition to “Wolves.”
Kanye is also in a battle with TIDAL and has made it clear he wants nothing to do with the streaming platform despite being legally tied to the company. He’s been extremely vocal about his displeasure with the trend of exclusively releasing music through one platform because it restricts the music’s potential reach.
lol the life of pablo has to be top 10 worst albums ever…
Are you stupid?? It’s a classic
‘classic’ is reaching…but it is a good album.
I remember being mad about that TIDAL-only release, but I can’t imagine suing over it. Then again, I can’t imagine switching music services just for a Kanye album (as good as it turned out to be), and even if I did, I wouldn’t be upset that the album came out through other outlets unless having the subscription was actually really inconvenient.
So.. Twitter is where ppl say things in the moment, and Kanye is a person who’s emotions are in constant flux. Therefore, if this person is truly a fan they would know he is could change his mind. Kanye either truly believed that or straight up lied, but he didn’t force anyone to subscribe to Tidal though. If I tell you it’s gonna rain and you go and buy an umbrella, you can’t sue me. Also Tidal is mad $20 a month and I think it was on there for like 2-3 months before it was made public, so this guy really suing for $60? GTFOH
THIS GUY IS A MESS!!!!
tweets are supposed to be archived by the Library of Congress.. if its typed it documented